


Hope Isn't Lost

by Demi_Star



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cigarettes, Cuddling & Snuggling, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Relationships, Eventual Romance, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, Preteens, Singing, Slow Burn, Smoking, This is how catra stars sleeping on adora's bed, Underage Smoking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-23
Packaged: 2019-09-07 01:18:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16844245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Demi_Star/pseuds/Demi_Star
Summary: Even when there is pain, as long as you have something to look forward to, something, someone to push forward for, you will be ok. Once you loose that, life will seem like it is falling apart, with nothing to look forward to, what is there to hope for?Hope isn't lost until you loose hope yourself.*She-ra The Princess of Power Catradora Au*





	1. Tonight, Everthings Okay

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! So quick update! 
> 
> So recently I've been as little busy, starting work on my webcomic, watching Rwby, health stuff and I have to admit I haven't been writing a much as I would like to. Now I do have many plans for this Au and this fic but it takes up a lot of time I could be doing other things. If you guys really like this fic and really want me to I can and will keep writing it but if no one really cares I might spend my energies elsewhere. 
> 
> Thank you for your time and input.   
> Demi ☆

The barracks were surprisingly silent for how many soldiers laid sound asleep. Each one still in their beds. The lights on the bunk gave the room an eerie green glow. The only sound filling the room was the inaudible breaths of the soldiers and pipes creaking. 

A gasp breaks the painful silence. Catra sits upright in her bunk, her breath shallow in her throat. Her claws dig into thin sheets, tearing them. She trembles, her skin pulses a hot tingling; a common aftermath to Shadow Weaver's punishments. Catra takes a moment to realize she was just in her bunk, and everyone else was sound asleep. She let out an airy sigh, letting her muscles relax. 

Laying back down, Catra knows she needs to get back to sleep so she wakes up for morning roll tomorrow, the last time she slept through that Shadow Weaver had a very long -talk with her. Her eyes fall shut, red flashes in front of her and her body freezes up. Her eyes fly open, her breath is heavy with fear once again. 

Catra tries to calm herself, but she can't seem to stop trembling, the hot tingling on her skin getting more intense every time her eyes shut. Shadow Weaver's voice echoes through her mind, surrounding her every thought. 

Hot tears began to boil over her cheeks. She tries to stay silent but her sobs fill the room. She digs her claws into her arms, a silent punishment. A small voice broke her sobbing, a familiar voice that almost immediately soothes her. 

"Catra?" Adora was half asleep on her bunk underneath the crying feline. Catra sniffs, whipping her face with her covers. She doesn't respond, not wanting to let Adora know she has been up crying through the night. 

There was a long silence, broken by another sniff from Catra. Adora shifts in her bed to look up at the top bunk. "Can't sleep?" Her voice is almost inaudible. 

Catra sits up, wrapping her blanket around her. "I just woke up." She lies, trying to keep the fear inside her out of her voice. 

A loud creak of the bed under her makes Catra jump. Adora's head pops up, her hands gripping the edge of Catra's bunk. 

Adora's eyes felt heavy, she fought herself to stay awake. She could sense the strain in Catra's voice, she gazed up at the cat-like girl cocooned in blankets above her. Adora can tell that Catra's been crying, but she says nothing because she knows she would only hurt the feline's feelings.

Adora tugs at the blanket, silently asking what was wrong. Catra shoves away from her, pulling the blanket back over her matted hair. Adora sighs silently and sinks back down to her bed. 

She doesn't want to fall asleep and let Catra cry through the night, Adora wished she knew what was bothering the young feline, why she had been waking up each night. 

Silence rose, for how long, Catra couldn't tell, she was almost sure that Adora had fallen back to sleep when her tiny voice cut through Catra's thoughts. 

"Hey, Catra?" Catra could hear a faint quiver in her voice "I'm a little lonely do you want to come down here for a bit?" Adora shifts to a higher position on her bed, making room for Catra to jump down. 

Catra hears the wave in Adora's voice, maybe Adora had a bad dream as well. Maybe she won't notice Catra's fear because of her own. Catra slowly crawls down to the lower bunk. Her ears are folded back, hidden in her mass of hair. She reaches a hand out to Adora, giving her a soft smile. 

Adora grins taking her hand. Catra's muscle relax at the feeling of Adora's warm palm against hers. She closes her eyes and sighs as her brain slows its pace. Adora sinks into her bed, her eyes fixed on the feline in front of her. Catra curls up, close to Adora, wanting to be close enough to comfort but wanting to hide any weakness she was having. 

Adora's other hand slides up Catra's back, entangling in her matted mane. Catra tenses for a moment at the unexpected touch, relaxing as soon as she realizes that it's Adora. She felt safe here in Adora's arms. Even if Shadow Weaver would towering over her in the morning, right now everything was okay, everything was good. 

A small sleepy whisper broke the low rumble from the back of Catra's throat. A soft melody swimming from Adora's lips to soft feline ears. Her soft hums only audible to Catra's sensitive senses, filling her mind, dissolving any other thought. 

Soon Catra was asleep. Adora smiled, sinking lower into a sleeping position. She soon fell victim to the nights song.


	2. Wake Up Call

Catra learned the next morning that sleeping with another soldier was in no way acceptable. She awoke to a hot tinging down her spine, catching her breath in her throat. Her eyes fly open, everyone else was still sound asleep. 

Shadow Weaver stood towering above her, casting a red tint over everything that Catra sees. She pulls her out of the bed, dropping her on the floor before quietly saying "Follow me." 

Catra scrambled to her feet, her legs barely able to keep her standing. She glances back at Adora, blissfully asleep in the top corner of her bed. She sighs and chases after Shadow Weaver, it felt like running towards an explosion. 

Shadow Weaver stood silently in the corridor, she had gone into the room to wake the jr cadets up for morning roll. She didn't expect anything less, but she was still full of frustration with the feline. 

When Catra sputtered out of the room, Shadow Weaver says nothing but continues down the hallway, making her way to her chamber. Catra follows, having to speed walk to keep up with her commanding officer. 

Once in the chamber the Catra had only been in once before, sneaking around with Adora, Shadow Weaver shuts the door, turning slowly to Catra. Her look is cold, Catra can barely stand to look her in the eye, but breaking eye contact was seen as a weakness. She wouldn't have a choice soon enough anyway. 

The feeling was familiar, but she would never grow used to it. Shadow Weaver first user this Method on her when she was pretty young, she was trying to run away from Shadow Weaver. At first, it was just when she tried to get away, soon turned to whenever she moved while being lectered, eventually, it was just how she spoke to the Feline.

Adora's eyes fly open, panic immediately filling her thoughts. Assuming she missed Morning Roll she shoots out of bed and almost to get dressed. Her haze of sleep started to wear off and she notices all the other sleeping Cadets. Except Catra, the panic continues. 

She recalls the night before and glances to her bunk there is a dent in the bedding where the cat was curled up to sleep. Jumping on the bunk above, Adora's mind wanders as to where her feline friend was. 

What if she woke up scared again and ran off? Catra was never up before morning roll and with no clocks in the room, there was no way of telling the time. 

She feels restless, so she begins a routine, nothing too complex just a simple set of push-ups to crunched to running in place and back. Halfway through her second set, a broken voice fills the room. 

"Keep it dooooown." Lonnie groaned from the bunk next to Catra's "Some of us like to sleep as much as we can," and usually Adora did too but her mind was rapidly jumping from one situation to the next, her heart beating faster than she thought it could. 

After her 3rd set she decides to sit down on her bed, cheeks flushed and sweat dripping down her forehead. 

Adora hears familiar steps from outside the door, along with the pitter patter of claws. Worse than any option Adora thought up, Shadow Weaver caught her. She decides that laying down and pretending to sleep would be her best option, she holds her breath trying to listen to the voices from outside the door. No use, her human ears were far too insensitive to hear through walls. 

Catra stopped in front of the door to the barracks, her eyes glued to her feet, it almost looked as if she was limping. Shadow Weaver escorted her, gliding beside her. 

"Now Catra, remember what I said," Her words send shivers down Catra's back but all she can do is nod silently. Shadow Weaver bumps her head, ushering the young feline back into the room. 

Shadow Weaver follows close behind, and when waking everyone up she makes sure to let everyone know that they are about an hour late, so no breakfast, thanks to Catra. All eyes in the room grow cold, attaching themselves to catra. "Everyone get ready and head to the training bay." Shadow Weaver then disappeared, leaving everyone to yell at Catra. 

After most of them had filed out Adora approaches her friend. "I'm sorry I got you in trouble."

Catra huffed, not looking towards Adora. "You didn't do anything," she says, pulling on training armor. "I got caught, I just need to be more careful." She flashes a toothy grin to Adora. That earned her a giggle.

Giggling aside, Adora's face turns soft."What happened?" 

"Just a lecture about how inappropriate to sleep with another soldier." She lies, Adora doesn't need to know everthing Shadow Weaver does to her. She's witnessed it once and Catra doesn't want her to have to think about it. "I guess I'm going to have to get use to waking up before roll to get back on my bed." She chuckles out. 

Adora grins, shoving the feline. "Who said that was a every night thing?" 

"Me." 

"What's going to happen when we get taller and I need more room?" 

"Let's be real, you won't get taller." 

Adora scoffs, making an extremely offended face at Catra. "I'm taller than you! You have no room to talk." 

Catra pushes past Adora, doing her best not to limp. "Its because I haven't stopped growing, you have," she turns to stick out her tongue out before continuing to the training bay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote another chapter!! Woo! Now that this is going to be a multi-chapter fic, and I'm starting to get an idea of a plot there are probably going to be a couple time skips!


	3. Take a Breath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey so since I have a story planned out now, I'm going to be flipping through their time in the hord, the first couple chapter will be little moments of them growing up. This one they are a bit older I'm thinking Catra is 17 and Adora is 16. 
> 
> I do not promote smoking cigarettes! They are extremely bad for you and can cause cancer!!!

Catra shuffles into the barracks, she had gone missing after dinner and Adora had gotten worried. The Feline makes her way to the bunk the two share. All the Cadets had been released after dinner to do their nightly routine then head to sleep. Catra had skipped out on the workout it seems. She leans over Adora, sitting on her bunk, taking her boots off. 

“Where have you been?” Adora spits out, trying not to look up at her friend. She knew if she did then her front of anger would fade away. She falts when the feline fails to respond, her sky blue eyes flick up. Adora sees the huge grin that Catra was attempting to hide. 

With a shrug, the feline flips to a sitting position on Adora’s bed. “Didn’t you see me doin’ the routine,” Catra had always been a great lier to anyone but Adora.

The blond can tell that she is excited about whatever she is hiding from her, maybe an elaborate prank? She rolls her eyes, standing up and doing a couple stretches. It was always good to stretch before bed. “Mhm.” Once she is finished stretching she stands to stare at Catra. “Well, It’s almost time for Night Roll.” In other words, that was Catra’s queue to get onto her bed. She always came back down after Shadow Weaver leaves for the night, but if she was caught on Adora’s bed again, she would be moved to a different room. 

Catra jumped up but she doesn’t immediately hop onto her bed, she leans close to Adora. “I have a surprise tonight.” she purrs before pouncing onto her bunk, burying herself in the blankets.

Adora was now interested. So interested that after roll she is unable to fall asleep, finally after it seemed like forever, although, in reality, it had only been a couple minutes. Catra hops down from her bunk, but instead of curling up on the foot of Adora’s bed, she stands, hand held out. Adora rose her eyebrow, unconvinced. 

Catra sighs leaning over Adora, “Trust me, c’mon.” 

She takes the small clawed hand, letting Catra pull her out of bed. She slips her boots on before following Catra out the door. Adora hears her heart pound in her ears, they’re barracks were close to Shadow Weaver’s chamber. If she was out, and they got caught, they would be in extreme trouble, but she follows anyway. She doesn’t know why. Though she begins to question herself when the feline leads them outside. 

“Catra,” Adora whispers, tugging on her arm. “What are we doing we are going to get caught.” 

Catra pulls a grappling hook out from behind a large pipe, handing it to Adora, flashing a sharp, fanged grin before leaping up, and continuing her ascension until she was barely out of sight. Adora looks at the grappling hook, then back at the door, she could go back to bed, stay out of risk of trouble. 

An almost inaudible shout broke her from her thoughts, she gazed up, having to squint to be able to focus on Catra. “You coming?” 

Adora chases after her until they are on what seems like the highest point of the Fright Zone, you could barely see into the Whispering Woods. Sometimes if you looked at it too long the trees looked like they were moving. After climbing up the last set of pipes, Adora has to catch her breath before she catches up with Catra. 

The feline was leaning against a pipe that separates her from an extremely high fall. Her tail whips up gripping small cardboard box with red borders and black lettering. Adora knew exactly what they were. Anger flared inside of her, but also excitement. “How did you get those!” Adora blurted out and had to remember that she shouldn't be too loud. 

Catra grabs the pack, opening it and pulling the tin stick of poison out between her teeth. She slips the pack into a pocket that seemed like it shouldn't be on her jumpsuit, and pills out a lighter, lighting it with a quick flick then the lighter disappears. Catra takes a long drag before shrugging towards Adora. “I have my ways.” she holds the smoking demon out to her blond counterpart. 

Adora scrunched her face, disgusted, she turns away, “I'm not going to kill myself with that!” She exclaimed, “If this was your surprise have fun,” she heads to start climbing down, Catra’s tail sliding across her hand stops her. 

“You're really going to leave me out here alone, you don't have to have any, but I’d enjoy the company.” she grins as Adora heads back to lean on the bar with her. 

They were silent for a while, the only sound was long sharp inhales of smoke from Catra, and soft exhales. 

“Why are you smoking those anyway, how did-” Catra cut her off with a look, telling her silently that she wouldn't tell her how she got them. “You know they just hurt you, just make you weaker.” 

Catra hops onto the pipe that they are leaning against, perching herself. “I'm already weak Adora, but this,” she takes a long drag, “I control this.” smoke trails out her mouth as she speaks. “It's the only thing I *get* to control in my life.” she stares up at the starless sky, 3 moons viable to them at the moment. 

Adora reaches out, taking the cigarette between her finger, taking in a deep breath, she begins breathing out and her face bunches up once again. She quickly hands it back to Catra, “Nope can't do it,” she wheezes out. 

Catra chuckles. *Its ok Adora, you have more control than I do.* She takes a deep breath.


	4. Is This Our Chance?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place during the first episode of the show, Catra is 19 and Adora is 18

Adora always did a routine before any training. Most of her peers chose the time to sit and mingle in the little spare time they had. To Adora, that was a waste of time. 

Anyway, the only person she would want to talk to had been missing since sometime after lunch. Probably ran off to get into more trouble, or get herself more cigarettes, pretty much the same thing anyway. Adora sighs, sometimes she wishes she could help Catra more. When they were younger it could be excused as 'kids being kids' but now they are senior Cadets and Adora sometimes worries about her feline friend. She shakes her head, she'll have time to think about Catra later, for now, she needs to get ready for the training exercise. Today was a simulation, she wanted to be ready. 

When Catra doesn't show up to training Adora gets a little worried, she wouldn't just blow off a training exercise like this. Catra may be a slacker but she doesn't throw her chances away, she knows what she wants. She makes taking her sweet time getting it but, She says there's nothing wrong with being content on the journey. Whatever that means. 

When Catra finally shows up Adora is relieved, but angry, but it's hard to stay angry with Catra for too long. She sighs as the feline pulls her from the endless black pit underneath her. They playfully fight as they make their way back to the locker rooms, being the last ones in there. 

Adora thinks about talking to Catra Seriously for a moment. She really wants to tell her that she needs to take things more seriously, but she doesn't know how to without hurting Catra's pride. Just as she is about to mention something, Shadow Weaver pulls her away, leaving Catra alone in the locker room. 

Catra was relieved that Shadow Weaver wished to talk to Adora instead of her. For a few moments she thought she had been caught, but Catra doesn't let herself get caught anymore. When Shadow Weaver talks with Adora, it usually means praise. The only time Adora got in trouble was when they both were in trouble. Catra doesn't envy her, she wouldn't want to be the favorite child. She's content being the troubled child. 

She didn't know if she expected Adora to come back, nonetheless, she is disappointed when she has to sniff around to find her friend. 

Adora was outside. Leaning against a pipe. She's holding a small metal plate in her hand. Catra can't tell what it is but she waits for Adora to place it on her shirt before tackling her and examining it.

Adora had become a force captain, it wasn't a surprise she had been working for the title for years, and with Adora, as force captain, they were one step closer to being powerful enough to get out of here. Shadow Weaver can't hold them forever. 

"But Shadow Weaver said you can't come." 

The words are like a punch in the gut. She lashes out, she couldn't do this. Shadow Weaver was letting Adora go but keeping a tight grasp on the Feline. Why wouldn't she just get rid of her, if she hated the cat so much then why keep her by her side? 

Adora follows her with a grappling hook, it reminds her of their first night sneaking out. Catra needed to smoke. It was dangerous in the Daylight but she didn't care. By the time Adora had caught up, she was taking a large inhale of smoke. 

Adora had a chance to get out, why wouldn't she? A piece of Catra wishes she would wait just a little longer, if she works just a little harder, maybe she can make it to Force Captain soon, she just needed a little time. But Adora doesn't want to leave, she just wants to work for the cause. 

Catra couldn't care less about the cause, what side of the war was right. She knows that the horde has personal hurt both her and Adora throughout their life and held them captive here. She just wants to get out of this dump. In no way does that mean she wants to join a bunch of sparky princesses, she just wants to be with Adora, and for now, Adora was here. 

When Adora holds out the keys Catra's heart jumps, a chance. Though she knows that Adora will want to return, but just a moment away will give her enough of a break to make it just a little longer. 

Their time away wasn't long enough but Adora had gotten hurt and Catra needed to get her home. They get back in barely enough time not to be noticed, though they missed dinner. 

That night sleep is harder than usual for Catra, even once she curls up on Adora’s bed. Adora wakes and climbs out of bed, Catra chases after her, unnoticed until they are in the hallway. 

Adora was going back the Whispering Woods, and she was just going to leave Catra here. That hurt a little. She says she plans to come back. “Please cover for me, I will be back before anyone notices,” she says quietly. “I don't want you getting in trouble on my accord.” 

Catra chuckles grabbing Adora's hand. “I'm going to get in trouble one way or another Adora. I can't let you go alone, what if you get captured? I know you are stronger than me but we are stronger together.” 

That was true, whenever training involved teams her and Catra would pair up. Since their team was only five people it would usually be three on two, but it was still in Catra and Adora’s favor every time.

Adora knew there was no arguing with Catra she sighed grabbing her and pulling her to the next hallway. “We have to go by foot, they would notice a Skiff leaving at this time at night,” she explains. Surprisingly they make it out without being seen. It takes a lot longer to walk to the Whispering Woods than flying. 

They stand at the edge of the woods. Adora is hesitant, she doesn't recognize any of this. She doesn't know if the stories about the trees moving were true or if it's just a blur because she hit her head. 

“Oh hey isn't this the tree you hit?” Catra calls, placing her hand on a large gash in the tree’s side. 

“You hit the tree!” Adora exclaims frustratingly. 

“And you hit your head so maybe you're remembering it a little wrong?” Catra shrugs continuing through the forest. Catra began to get nervous, if they planned on going back they needed to be there before morning roll or she would be in big trouble. “Adora, I don't think there's a-” she's cut off by Adora pushing past her. 

“Look.” She says quietly, pushing aside a large branch, revealing a bright light. Once Catra’s eyes adjust, she can make out a large sword, with a beautiful gold hilt and a crystal blue gem in the handle. 

Adora heads towards the swords, Catra close behind. “THAT'S the sword you saw! If you told me what it looked like I would have been a lot more supportive.” She chuckles. They start to head for the sword when they hear another set of voices, unfamiliar. 

“The light came from this way Bow,” a young female voice boomed through the woods

A male who sounds a little frustrated came, he spoke softer than The girl. “The trackpad says otherwise.” 

They come into view, A small girl, very sparkly, pink hair, and a tall, dark-skinned archer, the sparkly one shouts. “HORDE SOLDIERS!”

“I SEE THEM.” 

Adora and the sparkly one race to the blade, Catra decides to take the Archer. She pounces at him before he gets the chance to pull out his bow. 

The girl disappears and reappears next to the sword grabbing it, Adora tries to take it but she vanishes again, appearing again only a few feet away. Adora tackles her as she tosses the sword to the male. 

He had just gotten out of Catra’s grasp, tossing her off of him and into a tree. He catches the sword, panicked he just starts running, Catra is back on her feet by now. 

The glitter girl appears on Adora’s back, pulling her hair like a child, the blond is easily able to flip her onto her back. She pulls out a bola from her belt, tossing it at the archer, knocking him to the ground. Catra takes the sword from him easily. 

The archer had gotten out of the bola and pulls his Bow out. Adora rushes in between him and Catra. “Listen we don't want to hurt you, we just want the sword.” 

“Since when do horde soldiers not want to hurt anyone!” screams the girl as she darts at Adora, tossing what looked to be sprits of sparkling pink water at Adora.

Catra leaps and so many things seem to happen at once; she tosses the sword to Adora, the Archer releases some kind of net-arrow, suddenly there is a blinding light from behind her and then everything goes black.


	5. It's Hard to Believe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is alittle filler-y, things start to get really interesting in the next one!

Catra awakes, confused, she squirms, she had ropes around her hands. To her left Adora lay, still unconscious. She panics seeing the ties around Adora’s hands as well. She just needs to cut herself loose so she can get to Adora. 

“Glimmer one of them is awake,” Bow spoke softly as if to try not to wake Adora. Nice to be considerate now, after capturing them. 

“I can see that.” the girl who Catra now knows it Glimmer, what a fitting name, glares at the feline. Her tone wasn't nearly as soft. 

“What's going on?” Catra’s memory begins to catch up with her. 

Glimmer snaps. “Quiet, Horde spy, we ask the questions. So how did you make it this far into Whispering Woods and Why were you trying to steal our sword?” 

Catra raises a brow at her, she was like a tiny angry fairy. “I'm not telling you anything, Princess,” she spits out the word like it has a sour taste. She imagined if it was just the Archer who had seen them he would have let them pass peacefully, or at least asked them in a bit of a kinder fashion. He looked a little concerned about this whole situation. Damn princesses and their violent instigation. 

Soon Adora wakes and they ask the same thing to her. “The sword isn't yours, I found it here,” Adora fights against the restrains at her hands. Catra insists it's no use. 

“The Whispering Woods is under the Rebellion’s protection, anything found here is property of the rebellion. You are lucky to make it as far as you did.” she scowls at the two.

Oh wonderful she, not just a Princess, she was a Rebellion princess. Catra rolls her eyes and Adora huffs, taking note that the sword was strapped to Glimmer’s back.

“Let get these Prisoners back to Bright Moon so they can be interrogated.” The two-step away for a moment, before Glimmer shouts again. “Come on, on your feet!” 

They start walking in the direction that the two came from. Catra walked close to Adora, who was keeping a close eye on that sword. In all honesty, if Catra wanted to she could easily cut her ties off her wrists, but part if her aches, fearing her return to the Fright Zone. Maybe this was her and Adora’s way out.

The archer walks ahead with the Princess leaving the Horde soldiers to be able to talk. “I need to get my hand on that sword again Catra,” Adora speaks quietly. “If we bring that back to the Horde we will have a huge advantage.” she is almost also talking to herself. 

Catra nods lightly. She had to talk Adora out of going back. Adora believed that the Horde was doing the right thing and she doesn't know if she'd be able to convince her otherwise.

Catra had always known, but none of it mattered. She couldn't do anything about it then. She was stuck in a war she didn't want to fight. She didn't care about the war, as long as she's with Adora the world could burn around them for all she cares. But then there was Shadow Weaver. Even just thinking about what her response to them running off would be. Adora would probably get a good job for bringing the sword back, but Catra, Catra would likely get more of a punishment.

They Catch up with their captors, Glimmer looks like she's having a hard time with the map. “Just let me figure this out.” she wines before disappearing, moving ahead of everyone.

“Ok touchy,” Bow states. he hangs back with the prisoners. “Sorry about her. Usually, she’s really nice.” 

Catra rolls her eyes. “I'm sure,” she says under her breath, most likely inaudible. 

They walk a few more paces. “Not much for talking huh?” He stood between them, guiding them along behind the Princess, who seemed to be losing her temper. 

“We prefer to not swapping pleasantries with our captors,” Adora states, her eyes flickering up at Catra for a moment before returning to her feet. 

Helping them over a large tree root, he shrugs. “Suit yourself.” 

Ahead, Glimmer teleports not that there was any reason to, And the distance she was going would be just as quick to walk to. Catra wonders if she couldn't control when it happens, or maybe she short-circuited when she was frustrated. Catra chuckles to herself. 

As they slow to a stop, waiting for Glimmer to figure out the map, Adora leans towards the Bow. “You know she is a Princess, right? How can you follow her?” Adora’s eyes are fixed on Glimmer as she appears in and out of existence. “Princesses are a dangerous threat to everyone on Etheria.” she pries her eyes away from Glimmer for a moment to look to the Archer. 

“Is that what Hordak told you?” he questions, his brows furrowing together. 

Adora looks dumbfounded. “I thought it was just common knowledge.” she averts her eyes back to the Princess. 

Catra’s tail swishes violently behind her. “She obviously is a violent instigator that doesn't know how to control her powers. I mean look at her.” Catra growls, holding her tied hands up to point at Glimmer. She was banging the map on her hand, she lets out a loud scream of frustration. She teleports again before running through some bushes, leaving Bow and the prisoners to mingle. 

“Have you two ever actually met a Princess?” Bow questions, trying to hold back a snicker.

“Well maybe not in person, but-” Adora starts. 

Catra’s ears perk, hearing a small cry. Soon Adora and Bow hear it too. How grabs one of each of their arms, pulling them through the bushes that Glimmer disappeared into before. 

Ahead of them, Glimmer sobbed, holding a concrete slab I'm her hands. A small illustration shows on the concrete. In front of her was ruins of what looked to be a village. Nothing was left except rubble and ashes. 

“What happened here?” Adora speaks, almost sounding scared. The princess did not seem to like this question, she nears Adora. 

“Don't play dumb with me,” she points at Adora, Catra’s stomach twist in rage, she shoves herself between the two. Glimmer steps back. “You were probably apart of the raiding party that did this!” 

Catra hisses. “What are you talking about?” She almost spits out. She knew the Horde wasn't good, how could something that treats its own troops like this be good in any way. But this, this looked like a massacre. 

“The Horde would never do this!” Adora defends. Glimmer scoffs and grabs both of the prisoners, dragging them through the rubble. 

Now in front of them lay an old Horde drone. Glimmer’s voice wavers. “Oh yeah?” She turns away. “Explain this.” after a moment of silence Glimmer turns back to them. “See your both heartless destroyers like the rest of your people.” 

“We aren't destroyers,” Adora defends. “Hordak says we are doing what's best for Etheria, we are making this more orderly!” Catra stays silent, it wasn't too far-fetched that this would happen. 

“This is what's best for Etheria?” Glimmer points at the ruins. “Ever since the Horde got here they've been poisoning our land, burning our cities. Destroying everything in their path, and you are apart of it. How's that for orderly!” Glimmer looks as if she is about to explode. She begins to storm off. 

Catra opens her mouth for the first time in a while. “I mean not like we had a choice.” But the Princess is too far away to hear her.

Adora looks to Catra confused. “This doesn't make any sense. Have you seen anything like this?” She questions her friend. 

Catra looks down. “No, I haven't seen anything outside the Fright Zone but honestly it doesn't surprise me. Shadow Weaver and Hordak aren't exactly nice people.” Catra's tail slashes through the air irritated. She doesn't look at Adora, but she can feel her eyes burning into her. 

“Did you really not know any of this?” Bow questioned, taking a step forward. “Your army is called the Evil Horde.” 

Adora snaps. “Who calls us that?” 

“Everybody!” 

Adora shakes her head looked up at Catra. She was confused. “But the Horde reduced us as babies, Catra they took us in.” 

Catra almost winced. “I'm starting to wonder,” Catra took a few steps forward, “Did they rescue us?” she pauses, words getting caught in the back of her throat. “Or did they kidnap us?” 

“Catra come on, Shadow Weaver has told us both that we were dying orphans when she found us and took us in!” Adora reaches for Catra forgetting that her hands are bound. 

“Shadow Weaver says a lot, Adora. Who's to say we didn't live in that village back there. They saw some easily influenced kids and thought why waste soldiers.” Catra looks down at her feet, Adora was so naive, it was hard to get any of this out. 

“How can you say that? They are our family, they gave us a home, maybe this is all a misunderstanding.” she opens her mouth to begin talking again but Glimmer cuts her off by teleporting into sight, running at them. 

“There's something out there,” her voice wavers, “something big.” 

Soon a large insect-like creature erupts from the earth, cracking the ground around it. Six-clawed legs come barreling at the four. Catra quickly jumps out of the way. Now was the time to cut off those ties. It was easy with her claws, Soon her arms had freedom once again. Glimmer leaps onto the insect, trying to attack but it pushes her off easily. 

The movement of the bug made the ground shake, Adora stumbles, being pushed back into a crack in the ground. She lets out a scream, Catra’s eyes dart towards her. She is trying to pull her foot out of the crack. Bow steps in front of her shooting an arrow at the beast. A green slime like net covers the mouth of the thing but it doesn't seem fazed by it. 

Glimmer screams running at it, tossing glitter bombs as she runs. The beast tosses her against a tree, she slumps down. Catra examines her surroundings. Bow was aiming an arrow towards the insects head. Catra made her way to Adora, slicing off the ties holding her hands together. Adora gave her a thankful look as she helps her pull her foot out of the crack. 

While standing, Adora spots the sword. Bow is flung into the same tree as Glimmer and the beast now went for Adora. She darts to the sword, snagging it as she slid on The grass. The creature heads for Glimmer and Bow. Adora looks around for Catra, now that she has the sword they can escape, but Catra was nowhere in sight. Suddenly the beast let out a large cry and began to squirm. 

Catra had scaled a tree, leaping onto the creatures face and clawing through one of its top set of eyes. Blue goo that Catra can only assume is blood starts squirting out at her. She slides down the side of it, dragging her claws as she goes. 

She lands on the ground, looking up the bleeding beast. An earsplitting howl came from it. Catra's eyes widened, she just made it angry. A large claw hovers above her, ready to crush her fragile frame. She closes her eyes tightly. At least she got out of the Fright Zone before she died. 

Catra’s thoughts of death were interrupted by Adora’s voice. “For the Honor of Grayskull!” Catra attempted to open her eyes but even with them closed she was blinded by the like Adora emitted.


	6. Separated

The blinding light slowly fades, but when Catra opens her eyes Adora wasn’t standing in front of her. Well it looked like Adora, just bigger, brighter. Her hair had grown flying around like it was windy, kept out of her face by a tiara. The insect beast that was previously attempting to kill them was now calm, laying on the ground, motionless. 

Adora’s strong gaze falters, her hair falling flat, her gaze meets Catra’s. Suddenly there is another flash of light and Adora is back to normal. The sword pulses. 

Moments later Glimmer appears next to Her, grabbing ahold of the sword fighting for possession. “Stay where you are.” she shouts still struggling to get a hold of the sword. 

Adora seems to ignore the Princess's orders as she keeps a strong grasp on the blade, unwilling to give it up. “What did you do to me?” Adora accuses. 

“What do you mean what did I do to YOU?” Glimmer huffs, unable to take the sword. 

“I didn't know being a Princess was contagious!” By the time Adora spits that out Bow also a hold of the sword, trying to calm the two down. 

Catra has to collect herself, in shock from it all. She scrambled to her feet. She accesses the situation, adding her to the tug-of-war over the sword would likely do nothing to help. Instead she stays out of sight, rounding the large insect, waiting for the right moment to pounce. She watches the struggle for the sword from a far. Glimmer ends up with the sword in hand. 

As soon as Adora’s fingers loose contact with the sword the docile beast wails to life once again. It shakes the ground, causing Catra to stumble.

Glimmer and Bow run together hiding in a root cave, Adora runs in the opposite direction, but still nowhere near Catra. The insect is readying itself to charge at the two hiding within a tree. Catra doesn't know why she risks her life for an archer and a Princess, but she launches herself onto the beast. Forgetting about the other two, the insect flails around attempting to get the feline off of it. 

Her claws allow her to hold on tightly, scaling the beast until she reaches the eyes she had previously injured. She slides further down, blinding the remaining eyes on the left side of its face. In the moment of shock from the pain Catra dives her hand into the eye grabbing onto whatever she could and pulling. Moments later she was tossed into the air by a bunking beast. 

Flipping herself in the air, Catra grabs onto the back of the insect, slicing open it's thick skin. She tries to stable herself but to no avail, she crashes to the ground, sliding across the grass in front of Adora.

Bow and Glimmer see the insect is distracted and bolt to their prisoners. The beasts attention is soon back on the group. They run up hill, away from the bug. 

Catra isn't sure what happened but basically Adora ran them right off a cliff. They face plant onto pavement, there are weird patterns carved into the ground, Catra almost recognised the symbols but she pushes the feeling back scrambling to her feet. In the fall Adora lost the sword. Instinctively Catra grabs it. 

“What is this place?” Adora sounds concerned, did she recognize the symbols too. 

Bow chimes in. “It doesn't matter, whatever's in there has to be better than out here.” he tries to pry a large set of doors open.” 

Adora is looking around frantically, not paying attention to the door

“Ok guys hold on I can teleport us in there.” Glimmer grabs a hold of Bow and Catra reaching a hand out to Adora. 

Adora frowns at Glimmers offer, tugging at Catra’s other arm. “Catra come on. You have the sword we can make it past that thing and back to the Horde.” 

Catra looks between Adora, Glimmer and the Sword, but before she has a chance to decide, she vanishes from Adora’s grasp. Next thing she knows she is falling against another concrete ground. It's dark. Catra can barely see a couple feet in front of her. The sword. Where was the sword? She reaches out and grabs the hilt or the sword and the small gem on the end begins to glow, the sword pulsated light following.

Catra is met with Glimmer standing very close to her. She jumps a little. Glimmer has a dark stare, it makes Catra slightly comfortable to the point of her hissing, “What?” 

“First your friend turns into a magical glowing lady, now the sword is glowing because you grabbed it. You want to tell us what's going on?” She glare deeper at the feline. 

Catra back up. “I just grabbed it, maybe it could tell it was dark, it's magic I don't know. And I don't know what happened to Adora, I've never seen her do something like that before.” Catra furrows her brows thinking of Adora. What if she couldn't get away from the insect alone. 

“You have to admit it's a little weird.” Bow chirps from the side lines. 

Catra shoved away from them both moving forward. “Whatever let's just find a way out of here.” she holds the sword out as a source of light, lighting a path for the three of them. 

Glimmer rolls her eyes and huffs. “I can make it brighter.” she scrunches up her face, concentrating until a small orb of light appears in her hands, she tosses it into the air and it expands, illuminating the whole room. 

Catra is slightly impressed. She glances around, the whole place was covered in the symbols, her brain wanted to make sense of them, but she wouldn't let herself focus on it for too long. 

“Woah, Glimmer I think this might be a First One’s ruin.” Bow gasps exciting, moving ahead of them both. 

Catra raises an eyebrow. “What is a ‘first one’?” she asks, keeping a tight grip on the sword. She could tell that Glimmer was uncomfortable with her having it, but at least she was smart enough to know that Catra would only be compliant if she felt as if she had the upper hand. 

But at the same time, Glimmer didn't know how much she was hiding, how much she knows. She chuckles. “You don't know what the First Ones are?? They were the first settlers of Etheria, died off thousands of years ago, were you born yesterday?” Glimmer snarks.

Bow raises his eyebrow. “Didn't Hordak teach you about them in the Horde?” 

Catra laughs. “Hordak teaches us nothing, he just sits and watches as we do all his work for him. The only things we are taught in the Horde are; Never show weakness, Always be in control of the situation, and strike to kill.” she swings the sword at the wall. The impact causes the building to shake, a slab of cement from the ceiling cracking and crumbling to the ground.

Bow places his hand on the sword. His face very concerned. “Ok if you want to keep a hold of that I suggest you don't strike anything else in here.” He gives Catra a cheeky smile. She nods in compliance.

The walk around attempting to find an exit but every door they come in contact with is tightly shut. Catra almost can't ignore the symbols anymore. The same ones on every door, it almost looks like it said Etheria. No not quite. They walk into another dead end, Glimmer grunts in frustration kicking the door. She was too drained to be able to teleport herself let alone all of them. Catra stairs up at the door, the symbols mixing on her head. “E-ternia?” the word stumbles out of her mouth. 

Suddenly the building shakes and the symbols on the door light up, the door splits into, opening to the Whispering Woods. Catra lets out a sigh of relief as she breaths in the fresh air. It was night fall by now. They were in there for hours. 

“Ok that was the last straw, she can't have the sword anymore.” Glimmer grabs the sword, taking it from Catra's grasp. 

Catra hisses and almost pounces on Glimmer, Bow stops her with a hand on her shoulder. “Hey we are just a little suspicious, have you always been able to read first ones writing?” 

Catra shrinks out of his touch. “What, no, they just looked like symbols at first, but the more I looked at them the more they made sense.” 

Glimmer glares at her, untrusting. Bow nods and they head out. Soon Bow mentions that there is a village nearby they can set up camp in.


	7. I Don't Need to be Saved

“This way.” Bow instructs. 

Catra had started to get worried. Her mind was pinned on Adora, there didn't seem to be any sign of her when they exited the ruin. Catra hopes she is Ok, but if she is alright that likely means she made it back to the Horde and is reporting Catra as captured. 

The village comes into view, it looked like something was going on. A variety of creatures from human to faun were surrounding a large fire. Some of the beings had instruments and were playing while others danced. What were they all doing? Doing some kind of ritual? Catra furrows her brow as they get closer. 

Glimmer stomps up to the feline grabbing the belt that holds a horde symbol. “This needs to come off.” 

Catra raises a brow, Glimmer still reminded her of an angry fairy. “Why?” She jerks herself out of Glimmers hold. 

“Beeecause,” Glimmer drags out obnoxiously, “If the villagers see a Horde Soldier, they are going to freak out.” she rolls her eyes, it was obvious. “So we gotta fix,” she looks Catra over. Overall the only item sporting the Horde Symbol was the belt that she was wearing, but her clothes were obviously from the Horde, all shades of blood read. “All this.”

Catra growls but rips off her belt. She raises an eyebrow at Glimmer. “Not much more I can do.” She shrugs 

Glimmer grumbles pulling off her cape and draping it around Catra, Catra wriggles under it, making it a little difficult. “Hold still, there” she finally gets it to stay. 

“This looks terrible.” Catra states. 

Glimmer brushes Catra off. “Its dark, no one will really notice, we just need to blend in so we can ask if we can stay here through the night.” She begins to head towards the group of people. 

Catra was a little wary, unaware of what they were burning, or why they were all yelling and laughing. “What are they doing?” It looked like some sort of ritual, to the side it looked like there was a table covered in things that Catra had never seen before. The fur on her tail stands on end. 

“Have you never seen a festival before, I guess it’s late so things are wrapping up, but it's just like a big party,” He pauses taking a moment to realize, “Wait does the Horde not have Parties?” Catra looks at Bow, furrowing her brows together. She slowly shakes her head. A small gasp escapes Bow’s lips before he grabs Catra’s arm and pulls her into the crowd. 

Catra learns that the table was covered in food, she didn’t know food outside of portion bars existed. Oh man, how could she have never known about fish before? She finds out the yelling she heard was actually singing, people, telling stories through music. Catra had found herself missing how Adora would sing her to sleep when they were children. She gets a nervous feeling thinking of Adora, so she tries to avoid it. A young faun pulls Catra into the dancing Circle and she's having fun. Catra is confused by the feeling but, she didn’t have to worry about Shadow Weaver rounding the corner any second. She didn’t have to push herself to be anything, no one here was expecting anything out of her, they just took her in and asked no questions. 

The festives comes to an end. Glimmer, Bow, and Catra are given a small room to stay in through the night. Catra isn’t able to fall asleep very quickly, she was so used to sleeping with Adora. She stares at the ceiling, she wonders if Adora made it back to the Horde, what she was doing now. Had she just forgotten Catra and gone back to the normal routine? 

“We can move the attack on Thaymor from next week to tonight. They weren’t moving too fast, they are probably still in the Whispering Woods.” Adora insisted. “They were taking Catra to Brightmoon but they could have stopped for the night in Thaymor. The Princess of Brightmoon and an Archer have Catra captive. We can sneak in while they are sleeping, wake Catra and get her out before the attack.” 

Shadow Weaver was facing away from Adora, looking at the Black Garnet. Sometimes Adora could get on her nerves but she held her temper. “Adora, I know you care about Catra, though I have not the slightest idea why we can’t risk our entire plan on a single soldier.” She turns to face Adora, towering over her. 

“We wouldn’t be risking much! Let me and my team go. We will either succeed and bring Thaymor down and save Catra or you will lose some cadets that you obviously don’t care too much for.” Adora was getting emotional, she needed to get Catra back, and that sword. SHe hasn't mentioned anything about the sword. She didn’t know what to say. Oh, also she found a sword that turns her into an 8-foot tall magic lady and Catra had it when they got separated. That sounded like absolute madness, and Shadow Weaver was already being stubborn about the subject. 

Shadow Weaver turns away from Adora once more. She taps her fingers together. “This is your only chance, Adora. Prove to me that you can handle being a Force Captain.” 

“I won’t let you down, Ma’am.”

Catra tossed and turned, her mind wouldn’t seem to let her sleep. The room was filled with the soft sighs of Glimmer and snores of Bow. If Catra didn’t have cat hearing she wouldn't have heard the footsteps outside. She stands quickly, hiding in the shadows, next to a shelf. 

The door swings open. Catra can hear the intruder enter, they walk forward, looking around the room. Once they're back was facing her, Catra wraps one arm around the intruder’s neck and covered their mouth with her other hand. An elbow to the gut leaves Catra breathless, sending her stumbling back. Once she gathers herself she finally gets a good look at the intruder. 

“Adora?” She questions, her voice a whisper so she wouldn’t wake up Bow or Glimmer. 

Adora stood in front of Catra, she looks relieved. “Oh thank god, I found you.” Adora grabs Catra’s arm and starts heading to the door. “I’m sure if you help with the attack then Shadow Weaver won't be too upset about you being captured.” 

Catra’s muscles tenses at the mention of her name, “What attack? Adora, what are you talking about?” 

“The attack on Thaymor, the rebel fortress you are sleeping in right now?” Adora says it like it should be obvious.

“Adora this is a civilian Village! The people here are helpless and asleep.” Catra raises her voice a little too much, Glimmer starts to gain consciousness. 

“What kind of civilians hold people, prisoner?” She tugs at Catra’s arm once again. “Catra I convinced Shadow Weaver to let me save you before taking Thaymor down. She said this is my only chance,” Adora looked down at her hand on the Feline’s arm, then back up at her heterochromatic eyes. “So whether I save you or not, I have to do this.” 

Catra pauses for a moment, taking in everything that Adora had just said. She doesn’t understand, Adora was blind to so much. Adora was trying to drag her back to Shadow Weaver. Adora had always been the one keeping her there, keeping her within arms reach of the sorceress. She wanted to be with Adora, but now she knows that being with Adora isn’t the only option. If Adora wanted to choose the Horde over her, fine. She can choose the people who hurt them for years, she can choose to be blind. 

She jerks her arm away from Adora. “Glimmer! You need to wake up we are under Attack!” Catra let out loudly, still staring directly at Adora. “I don’t need you to save me.” 

Adora dashes out the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! So quick update! 
> 
> So recently I've been as little busy, starting work on my webcomic, watching Rwby, health stuff and I have to admit I haven't been writing a much as I would like to. Now I do have many plans for this Au and this fic but it takes up a lot of time I could be doing other things. If you guys really like this fic and really want me to I can and will keep writing it but if no one really cares I might spend my energies elsewhere. 
> 
> Thank you for your time and input.  
> Demi ☆


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